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Enterprise Ireland, the state agency "responsible
for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets" doesn't
know how many active client firms it supports.

Sometime past I had a look through annual reports
and other publications and on Tuesday I called the press office for the
information as it would be a proxy for data on exporters, and later an email
suggested that I should contact the Central Statistics Office (CSO) - - a link
to a CSO report did not help.

The specific data I was seeking was on the number
of active Irish indigenous exporting firms and what prompted my query was an AIB
Bank 'Exports
Outlook Report' [pdf], that coincided with its announcement a €200m SME
Export Finance Fund.

The Fox News slogan "We Report, You Decide" is
similar to our own approach but we try to avoid manufacturing our own facts!

The AIB report produced in association with
the Irish Exporters Association, Bord Bia and IPSOS MRBI, is one of these common
'feel good' outputs, laden with bromides from various boosters.

IPSOS/MRBI surveyed 200 SMEs engaged in exporting
goods or services and 30% confirmed that they are planning to export to new
countries this year - - 42% of businesses interviewed
had up to 5 employees.

In 2012 a similar IBEC survey with input from
experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggested that the lost 350,000 jobs
during the bust would be restored by 2016 -- just 18 months away from now!

For a start the total value of exports in 2013 at
€181bn is wrong - - the correct number is €176bn (see Table 2a
here). Balance of Payments data includes a €5bn adjustment for merchandise
double-counting.

Ireland does not supply data to a joint
OECD-Eurostat trade database because the level of Irish data available is
limited.

Data on SMEs (small and medium size firms up to
249 employees) includes both indigenous and foreign-owned firms.

Since 2012 when Enterprise Ireland's 2011 annual
report was published and a new government entered office, someone decided to
omit standard data: "Number of clients achieving annual global sales of €5
million" and "Number of clients achieving annual global sales of €20
million."

Prior to 2012, the numbers averaged 600 and 200 -
- and the export ratio would likely average 40%, suggesting that from a total of
185,000 active enterprises in 2012, the number of exporters is very small.

It's also revealing when it can take two months
to rustle up data on for example the take-up of the R&D 25% tax credit: do
ministers ever ask for such data?

It said some 100,000 French firms export goods,
or nearly one firm in 20 and this propensity to export is well below that of
Germany, close to that observed in Italy, and greater than the figure for the
United Kingdom and Spain.

French SMEs are restricted in their international development by their small
size and limited innovative capacity. When they export, they export to just one
or two countries, generally to neighbouring countries,and
30% fail to hold onto their market for more than a year.German
SMEs, which are larger and more innovative, are also bigger exporters, with
exports accounting for a larger share of their total revenue, and they also
export more regularly.

Comparison with France's main partners confirms Germany's clear dominance as an
exporting powerhouse. Thereis
a far greater propensity to export than in France, with nearly 350,000 exporting
firms, or 11% of all German firms.
Germany also owes its leadership to the relative importance of industry in its
economy, as this sector exports a greater proportion of its output than
services.

The French statistic that almost a third of new exporters lose their new market
within a year is the type of data that would be useful in Ireland - - but then
the market for fairytales would need to diminish!